The report, which found that toddlers covered by Medicaid are particularly prone to be put on medication such as Ritalin and Adderall, is among the first efforts to gauge the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. in children below age 4. Doctors at the Georgia Mental Health Forum
at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where the data was presented, as well
as several outside experts strongly criticized the use of medication in
so many children that young.

The American Academy of Pediatrics standard practice guidelines for
A.D.H.D. do not even address the diagnosis in children 3 and younger —
let alone the use of such stimulant medications, because their safety
and effectiveness have barely been explored in that age group. “It’s
absolutely shocking, and it shouldn’t be happening,” said Anita
Zervigon-Hakes, a children’s mental health
consultant to the Carter Center. “People are just feeling around in the
dark. We obviously don’t have our act together for little children.”

Why is it "shocking"? Isn't this just the logical conclusion to the drugging of society, from top to bottom? And why just concern over the "little children" when the fact of the matter is that this stuff is being misdiagnosed in children, adolescents and adults of all ages?

Friday’s report was the latest to raise concerns about A.D.H.D.
diagnoses and medications for American children beyond what many experts
consider medically justified. Last year, a nationwide C.D.C. survey
found that 11 percent of children ages 4 to 17 have received a diagnosis
of the disorder, and that about one in five boys will get one during
childhood.

A vast majority are put on medications such as methylphenidate (commonly known as Ritalin) or amphetamines like Adderall, which often calm a child’s hyperactivity and impulsivity but also carry risks for growth suppression, insomnia and hallucinations.

Only
Adderall is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children
below age 6. However, because off-label use of methylphenidate in
preschool children had produced some encouraging results, the most
recent American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines authorized it in 4- and
5-year-olds — but only after formal training for parents and teachers
to improve the child’s environment were unsuccessful.

Children
below age 4 are not covered in those guidelines because hyperactivity
and impulsivity are developmentally appropriate for toddlers, several
experts said, and more time is needed to see if a disorder is truly
present.

Or, y'know, whether it even actually exists. It reminds me of an experiment a psychologist did several years ago. He emailed several of his colleagues and asked them to help diagnosis a "patient" he was seeing who was exhibiting signs such as radical mood shifts, uncontrollable outbursts, hyperactivity, and tantrum-like behavior. He got back diagnoses that included everything from bi-polar to schizophrenia. The "patient"? The behavior of his 3 year old son at the time.

But the scariest part of the data presented in this latest study sheds light on the more sinister aspects of Big Pharma and social control.

Dr.
Visser said she could offer no firm explanation for why she found
toddlers covered by Medicaid to be medicated for the disorder far more
often than those covered by private insurance.

Dr.
Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist and director of school-based
programs at Cambridge Health Alliance outside Boston who specializes in
underprivileged youth, said that some home environments can lead to
behavior often mistaken for A.D.H.D., particularly in the youngest
children.

“In
acting out and being hard to control, they’re signaling the chaos in
their environment,” Dr. Rappaport said. “Of course only some homes are
like this — but if you have a family with domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse,
or a parent neglecting a 2-year-old, the kid might look impulsive or
aggressive. And the parent might just want a quick fix, and the easiest
thing to do is medicate. It’s a travesty.”

And, one could argue, purposeful and deliberate. Throw in substandard public schools and our pathological reliance on rat-control standardized tests, and you begin to see Kozol's point how the lower classes are being trained to accept their lowly place in society...like drugged rats, winding their way through the maze to the cheese.

But hey, whatevs, right? In our "it's all good" society, a drugged and complacent populace is precisely what the the Power Elite ordered.

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